Track 10 of the album One More Verse Before the Lights Come Up · 2026
The Light Comes Up on Someone Else's Washing
by Wren Hallett
“From the roof at the edge of the city, dawn spills over somebody else's washing. It's the song I'd play at the very start of morning.”
indie folk · dawn folk · dreamy folk · 3:48
Lyrics
From the roof at the edge of the city Dawn spills over the line Someone's sheets are blowing gently Someone's socks hang in a sign I don't know whose they are I've never seen the hands But I've watched them all through autumn Pegging out their plans The light comes up on someone else's washing Pale blue shirts and a small red dress I never meet the one who hangs them But I'd know them by their tenderness Somebody's keeping something going Somebody's up before the day The light comes up on someone else's washing And I'm not as alone as I'd say I brought my coffee, brought my blanket Brought a head that wouldn't rest There's a rooster somewhere calling Like the city's got no test The tower block is waking One lamp and then the next And the line of tiny laundry Says the day's not so complex The light comes up on someone else's washing Pale blue shirts and a small red dress I never meet the one who hangs them But I'd know them by their tenderness Somebody's keeping something going Somebody's up before the day The light comes up on someone else's washing And I'm not as alone as I'd say We don't have to speak to be neighbours We don't have to knock on the door Just to share a sky at morning Is a kind of knowing, I'm sure The light comes up on someone else's washing Pale blue shirts and a small red dress I never meet the one who hangs them But I'd know them by their tenderness Somebody's keeping something going Somebody's up before the day The light comes up on someone else's washing And I'm okay, I'm okay